Observations of an Intern

This June, Trilix welcomed Tyler Jass to the team as a summer intern and since then the Iowa State marketing student has worked diligently on various projects around the office. From helping assemble marketing kits to attending client meetings to participating in brainstorming sessions, Tyler's willingness to lend a hand (or brain) will be hard to match. As his time with us nears its end, we wanted to give him the opportunity to reflect on his experience at Trilix in his own words:

As a summer intern at Trilix, I have gained crucial experience that I will use moving forward in my career. I have had the privilege to work with different agency departments throughout the summer, which has been very beneficial because I was not restricted to one specific line of work and I was able to gain a well-rounded perspective on how each department operates. This was my first experience in the “real world,” and I was given real world responsibilities such as managing small projects throughout the summer and assisting with various client campaigns.

Seeing how the different departments collaborate to create advertising is truly an art — unique creative minds, technical interactive developers, long-term process project managers and account executives, the complex numbers world of media and strategic public relations gurus. Experiencing different department project meetings is something I’ll always remember. The creative team had casual, yet productive, gatherings, and the team would end up bouncing out-of-the-box ideas back and forth until that one brilliant idea was revealed. The interactive meetings were very technical and straightforward, dissecting each of the many steps that must be taken to develop and design well-respected websites. The project management meetings included discussions about long-term strategies and goals, identifying problems with the work-flow process and how these issues can be most efficiently resolved.

I would recommend to any advertising intern to attend as many meetings as possible. Attending meetings was always something that I looked forward to, as I was able to experience client business firsthand and even present my ideas on a particular proposal or brainstorming session. Another valuable lesson that I learned while interning at Trilix is to reach out to different employees and pick their brains on their areas of expertise. I found that a great way to learn the profession is to use the talent that I was surrounded by and ask as many questions as possible, trying to be a constant learner. I would routinely make an effort to reach out and visit with a different department member and discuss in depth what roles and responsibilities each person plays, which I always found extremely beneficial.

Being able to work downtown was a new and exciting experience. From the early morning hustle and bustle to the vibrant night-life atmosphere, the fast-paced environment of downtown Des Moines made me even more eager to get into work to begin my new career experience as a young advertising professional. I was also able to partake in the many Trilix social outings, including an Iowa Cubs game, eating at many different restaurants downtown and even a marketing trivia night, all while having a fun time doing so.

Trilix is an excellent company led by strong and dedicated people. I have witnessed and observed management that has an ideal vision of the company and always goes the extra mile to reach goals. Trilix employees were always willing to take time out of their busy schedules to walk me through things and show me the ropes, which helped me learn this field of work more than I can explain. With all of that in mind, this is why I am very fortunate to have started my career at Trilix. My summer adventure as an advertising intern was an amazing experience that I will always cherish moving forward.